Joy Dare, Week 4 (and then some): Miracles, Nebraskans, Red Lights

Day 22: A Gift Grateful
Time with Emily and her husband Tim, Joy
Time with my teammates from Nebraska, Friends
The Lord, and His Might

Day 23: 3 Gifts Only in Christ
Miracles, Jamie and Eric having beautiful, prayed over, miracle baby Brookie
Grace, In seeing God cover over many sins in my life
Multiplying Human efforts for Greater purposes, in seeing the growth out of hard things

Day 24: 3 Gifts Humble
Workshop on diversity, Oh how little I know!
Concert of Prayer, wow..such a need for laborers!
Time with Barb, a dear living legend who initiated time with me!

Day 25: 3 Gifts Ugly-Beautiful
The cold, not-so sunny weather
My heart
Sweaty hugs goodbye from dear friends after a dance.

Day 26: 3 Gifts Preparing
Processing time to prepare my heart for the week
Preparing to have a voice with men through women's workshop
Preparing for a fun dinner with dear single women friends at a fancy restaurant

Day 27: A Gift Handemade, Held, Happy
A pumpkin chai, made by mom when I got home for Thanksgiving

Day 28: 3 Gifts in Community
Interesting conversation
Funny and wise older people
Kind hearts in the unexpected

Day 29: 3 Gifts Red
Red Nail Polish
Red Candle
Red Christmas lights on tree downtown

Day 30: 3 Gifts Astonishing
Greek ministry growth
Auburn beats Alabama
Cookout fun with Dad

Joy Dare, Week 2: Freedom, Veterans, Pumpkins

Sweet, Salty, Sipped

Galatians 5

Day 8: A gift Sweet, Salty, Sipped: Starbucks Salted Caramel Mocha

Day 9: 3 Gifts from Harvest: Pumpkins, Butternut Squash, Honey Crisp Apples

Day 10: 3 Gifts found in Bible Reading: 
Galatians 5:1--Christ set me free to be free.
Galatians 5:6--Faith expressing itself through love is what counts, not how perfectly I do things.
Galatians 5:22--Things that come with Spirit living that I didn't earn, that are mine without limit

Day 11: 3 Gifts of Remembrance: 
My Grandfather LaFrance who served as a Marine. I never met him, but I see him as a hero.
My Grandmother who served as a Navy Nurse during WWII.
My Aunt Ann, who served in the Navy Reserves.
Thank you Veterans.

Day 12: 3 Gifts at Noon: Our first year Edgers: Katie, Austin and Maggie at staff meeting! Love them and so thankful for them!

Day 13: 3 Gifts Behind a Door: A blast of cool air outside the front door, Kim and Melanie at worship night, vegetable soup in the cabinet

Day 14: 3 Gifts Silence: First few moments waking up, Sitting by the fountain in Hyde Park, Right before bed minutes

Joy Dare, Week 1: Curry, Kicks, and Freedom of Religion

God is giving amazing things to us all the time. In daily circumstances, He often steps in and crosses the heavenly threshold to remind us of relationship with Him. As I mentioned in my previous post, I've decided to take Ann Voskamp's Joy Dare challenge from her blog, based off her popular book 1000 gifts. Here is a record of this week's little joys, given from the Lord to me:

Student Prayers at USF

Day 1:  3 Gifts Eaten: Masaman Curry, Pumpkin Doughnut Hole, Baby Townhouse Crackers

Day 2: 3 Gifts Worn: Red Button Earrings, New Gray Kicks, FSU Shirt on a winning game day

Day 3: 3 Gifts that start with N: Night Chat with Charlene on Porch, Nice Weather and a picnic with  Mom on the porch, Nap after church

Day 4: A Gift Gathered, Given, Good: Gathered: friends for Bible study, Given: workshop on rest and work, Good: reminder from Elaine from Jesus Calling

Day 5: 3 Gifts-Acorn Size: Little white flowers on my walk.

Day 6: 3 Gifts Government: Freedom of Religion, The Postal Service, Education

Day 7: 3 Gifts from my Window: Shawna, Firepit, Rays of Sunshine

A Crime to Report

I have a crime to report. 

Someone stole my joy this week and I want it back. 

I also want to testify that there were other victims this week of the same culprit. As I sat and heard the heavy hearts of various friends, I realized that before I could look around, mine had also been snatched.  One glance away, and gone!

The truth is, sometimes life is just plain hard. Heartbreaking stories of depression, sin and its consequences, broken relationships, dying loved ones, general ungratefulness, lies that have replaced truth, and unbearable stress that causes tears can wear you down. And the more you hear, the harder it is to remember that there is hope for this joy to be restored.

This week, as I've mourned over the stolen goods and waited for the thief to be taken down, another one reared its head. Comparison, thief's nasty sidekick.

Teddy Roosevelt says "Comparison is the Thief of Joy." 

Not only did I mourn with the heartaches, losses and sadness, but I started looking at the stories of blessing from the non-victims with a sinister, ugly scowl. If I'm suffering, and these friends are suffering, how dare you share your good stories with us? And comparison distracted me while the thief stealthily snuck by, joy in tow. 

When I talked to one who guards the joy, He reminded me that He brings justice to the injustice and healing to the broken. The Lord heard my story, and came to assist. Not just assist, but to restore. Not just to restore, but to renew. Not just to renew, but to fight. And to conquer. And to free. And to secure. And to increase.

In Galatians 4,  the Holy Spirit, reminded me that I have the rights of freedom. That I am adopted by the one who calls the shots. That what is most perplexing is believing that bondage and slavery to death is actual reality and that joy is steal-able. But joy is not take-able. In actuality, joy is a gift that comes from living out of the good news. 

And the good news is this: that Jesus Christ has conquered all culprits of joy theft. 

Truly, this world is hard. But there is a better destiny, a restored order. In Jesus Christ, all things hold together and every tear is wiped away.  My joy and the joy of my friends is actually hidden in the incomparable riches of Christ, and our names are written in the book of life. These are things that can never rust, spoil, fade or be taken from us. And inheritance beyond here. And that is where joy is found! And that is where joy lives. Untouched by the world and its scheming thieves.

So like the psalmist writes in Psalm 42:5, we can say

"Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

My prayer this week, for these friends and for myself, is this: That in constant renewal and time with the Father, healing and wholeness and joy will make a clean sweep through our hearts. That we would be reminded that what we suspected was actually gone for good, never made its way past the door of our hearts. That the thief and his nasty sidekick have actually been defeated for years, starting the day Jesus died and rose. That Jesus' fulfillment of the law made a binding covenant with us where joy permanently resides. Oh the greatness of the King of Kings! Thank you,  dear Lord, for your victorious self!

In facing these things, I've decided to recall this joy to mind by taking the Joy Dare. Afterall, a grateful heart, is a joy-filled heart and leaves no room for evidence left by two locked up convicts. 

I believe this calls for a celebration. I mean after all, we can all agree that this case is now closed and joy is in order.

This blog brought to you by: Nice weather and Grilled Cheese on the porch with Mom. (The first of my Joy Dare answers!)

The Land of More

Last week I made the 10 hour trek from Florida to Tennessee to serve on the director's team for the Navigator's summer program! Today is an exciting day! Our student team leaders arrive with their hearts full and their cars packed for a summer of leaning into the Lord, impacting college students from all over the southeast with the Gospel, and growing in character, wisdom, faith and skill.  They will be joined in a few days by the 120+ students who will be under their leadership and participating in SMS2013.

I have been challenged this week with my own inadequacy. I've been fighting a cold, some emotional ups and downs, and a bit of overwhelmedness, thinking, "Can I really handle the pace of the program and run with these students for the summer?"

This is when the Lord continues to remind me, "Rachel, not your strength, but mine. Not your ability, but my power through you. Where you are weak, dear girl, I am strong! The author of strength." 

This has been encouraging to me.

On a different note, I have taken several walks and breathed in the commercial mountain air of Pigeon Forge! It is crazy how many shows, shops, and neon signs line this town. I'm excited to check some of them out, but I realize that Pigeon Forge, who's slogan is "The Land of More" never likes silence or solitude. Its actually a kind of exhausting reality of how our world longs to be filled, and fills themselves with entertainment, earthly purchases, and grossly overpriced expenditures. 

Yet, beyond the parkway, are some amazing views of the Smoky Mountains! The Lord has used this to say "Look beyond the circumstances, the hustle and bustle, and see me! Keep your eyes fixed above, not on earthly things (Colossians 3).  The real "Land of More" lies in Jesus Christ, who purchased us with his blood and filled us with all the full measure of Christ (Ephesians 3). This too has been good for my heart.

Smoky Mountains and the Parkway from my Room!

I've also visited the local Walmart where, my roommate for the summer says, "Walmart is where everyone and their momma and their Bubba go to shop." I will say, in that one 30-minute trip I saw more beards and more mullets than maybe in all my life.

Please pray for the program as we all get excited for all the students to come this week:)  

This blog brought to you by Dolly Parton, who started Dollywood here and who, regardless of who you are,  will always love you.

Learning to be Irresponsible

I used to refer to responsibility as the “R” word. When I was 17 or 18, I loathed it. Isn’t it funny how something you loathe can quickly become something not only that you decide is good, but that you take on to a fault? 

This is what happened to me. Somewhere along the line, the “R” word became the adjective that I would put at the beginning of my name to play that “Get to know you game” that RA’s use for their floor during freshman year of college. Responsible Rachel, that’s me. 

Now, if you would have asked me if that is what I LIKED to be called, I would have psh-ed at you and given you a smirky "are you serious?!" look with a roll of the eyes. But, somehow, over the years, Responsible Rachel became more of a definition rather than a description, and an identity more than an identifier.

In the last three week, Responsible Rachel has been thrown into a tizzy seeing that despite her best effort, this fallacy she believes to be true, is actually quite the opposite of true.  To her shock and somewhat annoyance, She can hardly believe that she is not responsible for every person, every dish that needs cleaned on the counter, every problem happening in people's lives, and every perception of herself. 

The unraveling of Responsible Rachel came in the form of physical anxiety,  a perceived false heart attack on a plane. While Responsible Rachel became “Checking my Respiratory breathing and Rate of Heart Rachel" in seat 19D, in the back of her mind she thought, I hope that old redneck sort of a guy across the isle doesn’t have to become responsible if I have a heart attack. What is that! In the midst of my physical angst, I was thinking about how the guy across the isle would feel if I had a heart attack, deciding I would be responsible for his angst!

Something is seriously wrong with that picture. And with my thinking.

When I realized Responsible Rachel was not having a heart attack, just a break down, I quickly tried to pull it together, followed by a phone call to my Medical Mother, followed by a series of days where I actually couldn’t pull it together as I seeked help from a counselor, a doctor, friends and family.

Now, three weeks later, I am still struggling some with anxiety and learning how much of what I think I’m worth is wrapped up in how responsible I am. Thankfully, the Gracious God that we have is slowly showing me that Responsible is not the descriptor he wants in the front of my name as my definition. In his severe mercy, my descriptor is becoming stale and boring.

When telling my director in ministry about these anxiety things, he sincerely told me, “Rachel, you need to learn to be Irresponsible.” 

He didn’t mean I should stop wearing deodorant, show up three hours late to meet friends for lunch, or ignore engine lights in my car. What he meant was, I need to let go and say, you know what? That’s not my responsibility to deal with or fix. To say “no” to things and be ok with it. To recognize I am not anyone’s Savior or Fixer. There is only One that can do that for all human kind. His name is Jesus, the One and Only (John 1:14). How’s that for an Identity descriptor. That I need to be ok with not being in charge and need to surrender to the one who is. That I need to let Jesus’ love define me, not how much I can do in a day or how well I do those things. 

So this is where I am. I’m shedding Responsible as my identity for something else. For What? Ive decided I’m not coming up with one right now. I’m irresponsibly leaving that responsibility up to Jesus . I’m going to just relax and lean on Him for that answer and enjoy the freedom found in His responsible act on the cross. And that’s where I’m going to be defined. 

This Blog brought to you by College Resident Assistants around the nation, that join floors of crazy freshman together into life long friendships through games that later people blog about.

And now for your enjoyment, a throwback Thursday picture of my Freshman friends:

Chilvary: Dead or Alive

Most of the time, I think I am someone that can believe that there are still good men in this world. Granted, it took me most of college to believe I could trust men, but I never doubted that good men existed.

I have thought however in the last few years, that they seem to be a dying breed. Men of courage, men that lead, men that stick up for what's right, men that follow through with what they say they will do. With the number of men that don't have great father figures and the gender confusion that seems to be happening all around me, with more video games than building tree houses, and more entitlement than humility, I sometimes get stuck in a rut that chivalry, just might be...(gasp)... dead?! My sister along with multiple other women I know have sworn on multiple occasions that chivalrous, good men, do not exist anymore. Are we jaded or is it true?

I mean, according to dictionary.com, chiv·al·ry means the following:

1.the sum of the ideal qualifications of a knight, including courtesy, generosity, valor, and dexterity in arms.

2.the rules and customs of medieval knighthood.

3.the medieval system or institution of knighthood.

4. a group of knights.

5. gallant warriors or gentlemen

Interesting right? I mean besides those reenactment groups for the Medieval times or Rennasaince festivals, rarely do I see a group of 'knights' strolling around my neighborhood rescuing damsels in distress, fighting off dragons, or lifting intensely heavy swords to fight evil with. 

However, I love the first definition and the qualifications of a knight : Courtesy, generosity, valor and dexterity in arms... (anyone else want to chuckle with me over that last one? haha, I seriously laughed out loud when I read that).

However, even though there aren't droves of  knights walking around acting all knightly and such, I think, how fitting that there are not. These kind of men are few and far between and should be. Their rarity makes them all the more honorable.

So, with that said, I have witnessed modern day knights the last few weeks that are worth mentioning and have given me a renewed hope that chivalry is far from dead. Here's to you valiant men, that have made an impression on me that there are still good men out there and have made me even more encouraged to not settle for anyone less than knight-quality.

* Here, here...To the pizza waiter that took the time and effort to walk my friend and I to our cars in the downpour by releasing an outdoor umbrella from its stand, fording a river in the middle of the parking lot, and getting soaked in the process.

* Cheers to the many men the last few weeks that have courteously opened doors, carried boxes to and from my car, helped me move extremely heavy furniture from my apartment to my new place with their "dexterity of arms' and all with a smile and a willing heart to do so.

*Shout out to the multiple  men in the college ministry that have invited girls to bible studies and events with the only intention of wanting them to experience joy and growth in Christ. Who have had the courage to say no to late night study sessions to guard women's hearts more than the women even know they need. And have said we will live different from the world to show that chivalry is still alive and well.

Men of Chivalry, I salute you. And thank you. For setting the bar and giving me a reminder that their are still knights in undercover armor that exist today. For being courageous, strong, valiant. For fighting dragons that say being a gentleman is old fashion. For being the example.

This blog brought to you in part by the pizza guy's wet shoes.

Living for more, Feeling like a Kid

Walking through this crazy thing we call life, I am often intrigued. Intrigued by people, situations, books, interactions, humorous encounters, laughable moments, nature, and travels. In all these things, I'm reminded that these are only hints of what is to come.  Recently I was reminded that "what is seen is temporal, what is unseen is eternal." It reminds me that these hints come from The One and Only, the God, Jesus whom I follow. That these instances are reflections from the unseen making there way into this life. And I'm reminded in my heart..yes..the living for More is where I want to be. And I strive to Live for More than is seen by my eyes.

The side note of this is that I am a girl with adventures. These adventures don't always seem adult like, even though I'm 30. And as I learn to live and walk in life, be responsible, be grown-up, I sometimes stop and laugh at how I don't always feel like an adult, but a kid, enjoying life and people, without cares in the world.